Motivation

Due to the globalized reality that we all live in, an increasing number of people find themselves in a situation where they (have to) acquire several languages across the lifespan. This phenomenon – known as multilingualism – has been the norm in many parts of the world for years but now is becoming even more ubiquitous. And even though multilingualism opens up numerous opportunities for individuals and communities, the general complexity of linguistic structure makes it a considerable challenge, for children and adults alike. Many issues related to the interaction of three (or more) languages in the same speaker are poorly understood, including how new languages are affected by previously acquired languages, but also how previously acquired languages may be affected by the acquisition of further languages. Although the scientific investigation of multilingual language acquisition is vibrant and growing, studies typically focus exclusively on one language domain in a selected acquisition setting. What is missing is a broader picture of multilingual acquisition, processing and use. Especially the phenomenon of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) investigated across different domains in multilingual acquisition still remains largely unexplored.

Our mission

We hope that the ADIM project will provide invaluable knowledge for the fields of linguistics and cognitive psychology, in general, and language acquisition / multilingualism, in particular. Solid research-based knowledge in this field is also important for policy-makers, educators, parents of multilingual children, and many others. The project will contribute to a greater understanding of multilingual speech and its acquisition and processing in general, but it will also document the speech patterns of Polish-Norwegian multilingual communities with different configurations of stage and setting of acquisition.

Goals